OSLO, Jan 2 (Reuters) - Peace mediator Norway said on Wednesday that a Nordic ceasefire monitoring mission was likely to be withdrawn from Sri Lanka after Colombo said it would annul a 2002 truce with the rebel Tamil Tigers.

Norway's Development Aid Minister Erik Solheim, who brokered the six-year-old ceasefire, said Norway was willing to continue to serve as facilitator of Sri Lankan peace talks as long as it enjoyed the confidence of the parties to the conflict.

"I think it is most likely that it will have to be withdrawn," Solheim told Reuters, referring to the Nordic monitoring mission. "Its presence in Sri Lanka is based on the ceasefire agreement."

Solheim said he feared the Sri Lankan government's decision to end the ceasefire would lead to an escalation of violence in the Indian Ocean island. He called it a "negative and sad development."

The truce has been dead on the ground since a new phase of the two-decade civil war began in early 2006. (Reporting by John Acher, Editing by Matthew Jones)

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